1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a catheter balloon. More specifically, the present invention relates to a catheter balloon with improved collapsing or fold-in behavior.
2. Background Information
One example of a catheter balloon is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,389. The catheter balloon comprises a collapsible balloon body which must be placed on a catheter shaft such that it occupies as little space as possible prior to its expansion. To this end the catheter balloon, as well as its tapered end portions, are provided with foldings. Apart from the property that the catheter balloon should have a minimal profile in the area of the balloon in order to be guided, for example, through a stenoses in an easy way, tests performed within the scope of the invention have shown that when a folding is provided on the balloon body and on the tapered ends, the behavior during folding-in or collapsing is in need of improvement. In particular it has been found that the reversibility of the balloon into its folded condition poses a problem, for the balloon loses its memory behavior with respect to the original folding due to the cycle of inflation and deflation and the accompanying mechanical load. This may, for example, give rise to great difficulties when the balloon is guided through two successive stenoses. When the balloon is deflated after expansion of the first stenoses and if a different folding that is not identical with the first folding is created due to the loss in memory behavior, it may happen that the balloon in the second stenoses is blocked during retraction because the original folding that enables the passage through the stenoses is in fact not achieved anymore.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved catheter balloon. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.